Cyber hygiene forum gives advice on how to protect one’s identity

Derek Gomes Daily News staff writer

Thursday

Oct 19, 2017 at 12:01 AMOct 19, 2017 at 10:30 AM

NEWPORT — Hundreds of millions of people have been victims of cyber breaches that infiltrated big businesses. Whether it was Home Depot, Target or most recently Equifax, hackers have pried invaluable information about individuals from the places they patronize.

With names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and addresses, hackers can fraudulently open new credit cards and wreak havoc on someone’s credit.

Sen. Louis DiPalma, D-Middletown, hosted an inaugural cyber hygiene event Wednesday night at the Community College of Rhode Island Newport campus for experts to share tips about how to best protect one’s identity and vital information.

“My goal when you leave here tonight is you do one thing ... to protect yourself, your family, your identity and your data,” DiPalma said at the start of the event held in the school’s auditorium.

Mike Steinmetz, the state’s first cybersecurity officer, Capt. John Alfred of the State Police and Derick Rill of the Federal Trade Commission gave brief presentations. Rep. James Langevin, D-R.I., gave opening remarks about his interest in the cybersecurity field and how it has gone mainstream.

Some of the advice was fairly straightforward: Use different passwords for different online accounts; don’t open attachments in emails from strangers; start all updates on your phone and computer; and back up all files on a standalone hard drive.

Other tidbits might have been new for the roughly 50 attendees. A password phrase, such as three words together can be tougher to break than “eight or nine digits, a highly complex password,” Steinmetz, who started in his role earlier this year, said.

Alfred explained the depths of the dark web, the place where illicit transactions are made. It’s there that a hacker will fraudulently sell someone’s good credit rating, or counterfeit bills.

Rill, who is based in Washington, D.C., said if someone asks for money via email and “if they’re reaching out to you first, it’s a scam. ... It’s a damn scam.”

He recommends that individuals take advantage of their three free credit checks each year through the three credit-reporting agencies, including Equifax. Also, if someone does not plan to make a big purchase requiring a credit check, he recommends putting a “freeze” on it, making it much harder for someone to open a fraudulent account.

Regarding Equifax, Rill said, “We are investigating them ... and we will hold them accountable.”

The Equifax data breach, which was reported early in September, could have impacted 145.5 million U.S. consumers.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, 209,000 credit card numbers were stolen.

Gomes@NewportRI.com

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